Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
John Cheever. The National Pastime. Sylvester & Orphanos, Los Angeles, California, 1982.
Price: US$70.00 + shipping
Description: Clothbound hardcover with red, blue, and green line illustrations front and back. Title page illustration and decoration by Vance Gerry. Sewn binding with deckle edges. Last page states that this edition is limited to 330 copies, of which 300 are numbered, 26 are lettered, and 4 bear the printed name of a recipient -- but this copy has none of that, and instead has 'presentation copy', below which is John Cheever's signature in ink. Pages clean, binding tight. The jacket is transparent plastic.
Seller: Montclair Book Center, Montclair, NJ, U.S.A.
Cheever, John. The National Pastime. Sylvester & Orphanos, Los Angeles, CA, 1982.
Price: US$105.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: 33 pages. First edition, first printing. One (62) of 330 limited copies signed by Cheever. Fine book with no dust jacket as issued. A beautiful copy!
Seller: Fireproof Books, MINNETONKA, MN, U.S.A.
Cheever, John. The National Pastime. Sylvester & Orphanos, Los Angeles, 1982.
Price: US$150.00 + shipping
Description: No. 74 of 300 numbered copies signed by the author on Arches. 30, [4] pp. 1 vols. 8vo. No. 74 of 300 numbered copies signed by the author on Arches.
Seller: The Old Mill Bookshop, HACKETTSTOWN, NJ, U.S.A.
Cheever, John. The National Pastime. Sylvester and Orphanos, 1982.
Price: US$200.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: Decorative linen in linen slipcase. From an edition of 330 copies printed by Patrick Reagh on Arches Mouldmade Paper. Presentation copy, unnumbered, signed by the author on the colophon and inscribed and signed by the publishers on the front prelim "Special copy for Bela and Mariana Blau from Stathis Orphanos and Ralph Sylvester." Bela and Mariana Blau were the binders. A fine copy.
Seller: Book 'Em, Portland, OR, U.S.A.
Price: US$200.00 + shipping
Condition: As New
Description: First Edition. Original illustrated cloth covers, as new, in publsiher's slipcase. One of 26 lettered copies, signed by John Cheever. Scarce thus.
Seller: sonalsorises, los angeles, CA, U.S.A.
Cheever, John. The National Pastime. Sylvester and Orphanos, Los Angeles, 1982.
Price: US$220.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: Limited edition of 330, signed by Cheever on limitation page. Presentation copy, signed and warmly inscribed by both publishers to William "Gatz" Hjortsberg (from his personal library) on a blank leaf before the half-title page. Octavo (22.5 cm), pp. [xii], 1 - 29, [7]. Tan linen with red, blue and green illustration. Title page illustration by Vance Gerry. Letterpress on fine Arches Mouldmade paper. In fine condition, tan linen slipcase. No jacket, as issued. A short story of baseball and a father-son relationship, first published in the New Yorker in 1953. Hjortsberg was the author of Falling Angel (filmed as Angel Heart), Alp, Jubilee Hitchhiker: The Life and Times of Richard Brautigan, and several other books and screenplays.
Seller: Elk River Books (ABAA/ILAB), Livingston, MT, U.S.A.